China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment will prohibit the production of HCFC-141b from January 1, 2019, an ozone layer destroying substance. China is currently the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter of household refrigerators (2017: 73.3 million units), household freezers (22 million units), electric water heaters (2017: about 35 million units) and storage type water heaters (about 32.55 million units). It can be said that the public notice has a big influence on the home electronics industry. According to KANG Feng, chairman of the China Home Appliances Association, all three industries have already established alternative technologies and have full technical ability to eliminate the use of HCFC-141b as a foaming agent.
Japan JST China news release, October 25, 2018